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Thursday, December 15, 2016

Friday's Essay Exhibit

Last Friday I went around to four of the essay exhibit pieces in our classroom. Three of them had something to do with social media, and the fourth dealt with bots. I gave most of my attention to my tribe members Molly and Morgan.

Morgan's essay exhibit was titled "Increase in Social Media Due to Virtual Identity." Her exhibit piece was a Prezi consisting of four bubbles. The first bubble dealt with the concept of F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out). F.O.M.O. is the anxiety, often fueled by social media, that you are missing out on cool happenings. Some people use social media to stay in the loop for fun events, parties, etc. Morgan's second bubble dealt with reputation. She surmised that users of social media attempted to use those platforms to show off positive traits that they possess or that they hope others will think they possess. The third bubble of the presentation regarded social media's usefulness. For instance, beyond the obvious functions, social media can be used to learn new things, such as recipes. A YouTube video occupied the final bubble of Morgan's presentation. It pulled the exhibit together well.

Morgan on Facebook

Molly's exhibit also used Prezi to convey its message. She self-described her presentation as "Dope AF" and "Pro-Millennial." Molly's Prezi focused on the intersection of social media and politics. She referenced how political candidates of today use Twitter bots to propagate artificial buzz. Molly also looked at how generational differences related to social media and politics. Millennials, for instance, are using social media well to stay informed on political topics of interest to them. Molly uses several statistics to back up her claims.

Molly politicking on Twitter

It was interesting to see that 75% of the exhibits I looked at were about social media. They each had a distinct focus, but they still dealt with similar topics. I think social media is an interesting area for this type of study, and I think these projects could prove to be fruitful for critical inquiry.